Deliberateness. So many things in Copenhagen seemed to be so thoroughly considered. The street configurations, the architecture, the coffee pitchers (oh, the coffee pitchers!), the chairs, and, strikingly, the use of public space... I frequently got the feeling, "somebody really thought this out and I can see the benefits of that effort." The Danish people seem to care a great deal about designing things to maximize functionality, sustainability, and beauty. That's inspiring.

Generally, the Copenhageners we encountered were quite friendly. Whereas in some other European cities (famously, Paris) Americans might experience a "stupid American, I hate you" vibe, in Copenhagen I more often got a "stupid American, I am amused by you and I pity you" kind of vibe. Cashiers, ticket-takers, and people in the street seemed to exude a kind of patience with the foreigner that I haven't experienced in most other places in Europe. Quick with smiles and happy to talk, but also aware of when you're ready to be done talking.

Copenhagen aims to be the number one city in the world for cycling. Boy, does it show. We rented bikes and biked everywhere we went all week; it's certainly the easiest, fastest, and most convenient way to get around the city, so everybody does it. Just about every medium- and large-sized street has a separated cycle track in each direction. Unfortunately I didn't get enough pictures, but this one is decent:

Currently the bicycle commuting rate is at about 35%; they aim to get to 50%. We spoke to some transportation planners, and they showed us pictures of people biking through the rain and snow. (As an aside, I think it was Jeff at Gehl Architects who passed along this nugget: "the Danes say that there is no such thing as bad weather, only poor choice of clothing.") We bike through the rush hour commute one morning, and it was just amazing... a sea of bikes, and a comparatively tiny amount of vehicle traffic. Perhaps we (SF) will get there someday, too.

When I lived at the Ponderosa Co-op, I would sometimes stand on our back stairwell looking down at all of the tiny underutilized yards in the middle of the block and think "why don't we just tear down all these fences and have one big awesome yard that we call share?" When I looked out the back window of the flat that we rented for the week, I saw that vision realized (pictured left). There was excellent bike parking, picnic tables, a playground, a big sandbox (filled with toys that are obviously shared pretty widely among all the kids on the block), and some great open space. One of the neighbors told me that yard-sharing is a relatively new concept in Copenhagen-it began about ten or fifteen years ago-but has caught on and is now pretty popular. So perhaps it might happen in SF someday. Anyone want to build a website?

Here's a shot of that shared yard:

The food was... well, let's just say that I wouldn't go back to Denmark just for the food. We had some tasty open-faced sandwiches, and some excellent pastries. And there clearly is an appreciation for haute cuisine and a good thin-crust pizza.

We spent quite a bit of time with local planners and architects. On Monday we visited Gehl Architects, a self-styled "urban quality consultants" firm. The associate we met with shared the firm's design and planning principals, and described a few of the projects that they're working on (including expanded pedestrian uses on Broadway in NYC, and the upcoming Market Street redesign in SF). The layout of their office is notable: a wide open workspace where every employee, no matter how junior or senior, sits in four rows of desks; a few bright and open conference spaces; and a lunchroom in back (the firm brings in lunch each day to maximize the efficiency of the employees' 7.5 hour workday). It seems like quite a lovely place to work.

On Tuesday we traveled across the Øresund Bridge (the longest bridge in Europe!) to Malmo, Sweden. First we traveled through the gorgeous old city, much of which has been pedestrianized. It was midday; the weather was quite cold, but the streets were packed with people who were taking advantage of the urban open spaces and street furniture. It was simultaneously bustling and cozy; I gushed, "this is the apex of urbanism!" (and Lisa rolled her eyes at me).

We then hoofed it through long, construction-laden blocks until we arrived at the turning torso, an impressive, recently constructed office and apartment building in the west harbor of Malmo. There we were met by Minetta, an employee of Malmo's department of the environment. She gave us a tour of an enormous new housing development in the area- about 1400 units of housing built atop the western edge of the western harbor fill. The housing was beautiful (and varied- 27 different architects worked on the project), modern, and as eco-friendly as it could be, with green roofs, energy efficient construction, pedestrian/cycling/transit orientation, trash and recycling systems that are integrated and easy to use, open air rainwater management systems, etc. The entire development is powered by a single wind turbine that we could see on the horizon, a few clicks offshore. Incredible, and inspiring. Many of the homes had huge windows facing the 'street' (in quotes because these were car-free pedestrian and cycle tracks), their lives exposed to all of the passers-by. It's a different way of life, for sure. And at the edge of the development was an incredible seaside public space, with steps, a big field, and lots of restaurants. It was packed with people on a Tuesday afternoon.

Here are a few shots of the Turning Torso and the West Harbor development:

We spent all of Thursday with planners from the city of Copenhagen. In the morning we were given a presentation by one of the project managers of the city's climate action plan, which is currently under public review and will soon be adopted. Then we took a bike tour through a new transit oriented development on the outskirts of the city, with some of the most amazing housing complexes I've ever seen. We spent the afternoon with three transportation planners, who shared with us some of the principals guiding their work (basically, cyclists and peds and transit rule the day) and explained an example project: a neighborhood corridor street--Norresbrogade--where private auto traffic is being restricted in order to expand other transit and public space uses. Sweet!

I'm somewhat amazed that all of these professionals were willing to spend so much time speaking with us and touring us around. Perhaps it's because planners just love talking about planning with other planners. It might also be that the Scandinavians are terrified of rising sea levels, and so they feel the need to spread their ideas to the young planners of america.

We first flew to Phoenix (a city that each of us had in fact been to before) to visit Lisa's friend Trish. We took a tour of the beautiful library in Chandler, AZ where she works, enjoyed some tasty meals, and just relaxed. On Sunday we went on a nice long hike at Superstition Mountain. Lots and lots of giant Saguaro cacti. That's the general theme of our whole stay here in Arizona, actually. Out of our 222 photos, I think at least 150 feature a cactus.

Then on Monday morning we took the shuttle here to Tucson... I like it! The streets feature some nice touches that really appeal to my inner planner: lots of bike lanes, bulb-outs, and cool artsy bike racks. Tucson is pretty flat, and not too terribly spread out (not like Phoenix, anyway), and so it's bike-able. But given that we only had about 48 hours, and that many of the things that we wanted to see were beyond the edge of town, we decided to rent a car instead of bikes.

Upon the recommendation from a couple of friends, we visited the Chicago Music Store, which was conveniently located just a few blocks from the place where we're staying. We wandered through the upper floors, which house a mishmash of random, unlabeled instruments and cases.

Lots of Mexican food... On the first day here in Tucson we popped into a random little place on 4th Ave and had some great fish tacos and a mole burrito (pictured below). Last night for dinner we tried Cafe Poca Cosa downtown. It was a little pretentious - very dim lighting, ultra-chic interior, waiters dressed in black - but the food was tasty. If you're there, hopefully you'll get to sample the awesome tamale pie (though the menu changes twice daily, so good luck). Today we went to South Tucson, the Mexican neighborhood, and hit up Mi Nidito ('My Little Nest'). Lots of beef, few vegetables. The tortilla soup was the highlight.

Speaking of highlights, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum was outstanding. Part museum, part zoo, and part park, it's a big, beautiful nature preserve in the desert on the western edge of town. Mountain lions! Bears! Raptors! Hummingbirds! Caves! Lots and lots of cacti! Don't miss it.

To close it out today, we went for a nice long hike at Sabino Canyon. In a few hours we board a train for San Antonio. We'll have an Amtrak 'roomette', i.e., a spot on the sleeper car. Should be fun!

I love the idea, and I think it's a great first step in the plan to improve Market Street. Market is one of the most heavily biked streets in North America. According to recent traffic counts, bikes now outnumber private traffic during rush hours. There are alternative streets that are faster for cars; there's really no reason for private traffic to be using Market Street. Market Street has potential to be a truly great public space; right now, cars are getting in the way.

That said, after riding down Market Street this morning, I can say that this change doesn't really accomplish much for bikers. There's still plenty of private traffic; there are loads of cars turning eastbound onto Market at 3rd, Fremont, and elsewhere, which effectively defeats the purpose in those areas. One of the biggest dangers to bikes - big buses weaving back and forth between the two eastbound lanes - is still quite present. The intersections of 6th and 8th feel even more dangerous than before. And worst of all, I think the taxis feel emboldened: I saw one taking advantage of the emptier street by making an illegal u-turn in the middle of the block (cutting me off in the process).

Perhaps things will improve on Day 2. In the meantime, I'm glad for this change, but only if it represents one step of the larger process. The next steps that I'd like to see:

1. Prohibit private traffic right turns onto Market east of 6th Street.
   
2. Prohibit private traffic east of Van Ness.
   
3. Prohibit westbound private traffic.
   
4. Limit MUNI to the middle lanes. This is absolutely key. Someone from the Planning Department told me last week that the MTA insists that they need both lanes in both directions. I find this claim to be absolutely ridiculous. Even during rush hour, that center lane is almost never backed up. With the private traffic gone, the buses move even faster.
   
5. Prohibit taxis from Market Street.
   

Once all of these steps are implemented, we'll be ready for the radical changes that will come with the 2013 repave of Market Street: one center lane of traffic in each direction, reserved for MUNI; bus-stop medians; a dedicated bike path; wider sidewalks; sidewalk facilities for sitting, meeting, planting, outdoor cafes, art installations, spontaneous dancing, flashmobs, yelling about how Jesus is judging you, etc. Market Street will be great!

Come on San Francisco... let's stop dragging our feet and roll into the future.

I started with the big questions. What is a tablet? Who will use it? And for what? If the tablet were a tree, what kind of tree would it be? And what of the word tablet itself? Ta is a Sanskrit root, for "gift." Blet is Proto-Indo-European meaning "to be perfect while lacking usefulness." Will you write on a tablet, or just read from it? Or will you just buy it and put it on your desk and look at it a lot and never use it at all? Or will you maybe carry it around and put on the table in restaurants to show the other humanoids in your tribe that you are more advanced and wealthy than they are, and they should fear you because you have powerful magic that they do not understand?

Apple has been on such a roll, so it makes sense that they're being super deliberate with this product. They don't want such a high profile market entry to be anything other than wildly successful. If people are really buying Kindles, though, obviously there is some kind of demand for a better tablet.

For the handful of folks following this site through an RSS reader (according to google, there are 11 of you), you might want to switch to the atom.xml feed... the other feeds don't seem to be working quite right.

Just for posterity's sake (I'm a hopeless nostalgic) here's version 1:

And version 2:

I do have a whole new appreciation for parents, especially the single ones. What I'm wondering is, when do they have time to eat? It's really hard to spread cream cheese on a piece of toast with only one hand.

I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about, in any way, the social and political equality of the white and black races . . . I am not, nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, not of qualifying them to hold office, nor of intermarrying with white people; and I will say, in addition to this, that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the ttwo races living together on terms of political and social equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together, there must be the position of superior and inferior; and I, as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.

Pretty awful, huh? It really drives home the fact that every human is flawed, and that the mythical notion of the perfection of our "founding fathers" and "greatest leaders" really is quite the myth. An important lesson, especially given the present day context. E.g., this morning over pancakes I was talking about how amazing inauguration day will be if Barack wins, how I'll be celebrating in the streets, and Rafi said "Uh, let's see him do something first. Give me universal health care... I'll come celebrate in the streets with you that day." How true.

Oh, and who does that quote belong to? No, not Adolf Hitler... Abraham Lincoln.